- From: Martin Bryan <mtbryan@sgml.u-net.com>
- Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1996 09:13:55 +0100
- To: lee@sq.com, kimber@passage.com, w3c-sgml-wg@w3.org
Lee wrote: >If scoping rules were introduced, could + and - be eliminated? I think the real question is "Would the scoping rules be any easier for users to understand than the rules for inclusions?". I doubt it somehow. >What is the expressive loss in elmiminating "&"? If you have an & group with more that 3 options the number of expansions you have to do makes the DTD unreadable/incomprehensible. If you use repeatable OR groups instead you cannot ensure that only one occurrence of each element occurs. Forcing people to enter things in a fixed sequence is the only real alternative, and this constrains users to thinking in the same sequence as the DTD writer, which can put them off using the DTD. I know & is hard on the parser writers, but without user-friendly logically controlled input there is no need for logically controlled output. ---- Martin Bryan, The SGML Centre, Churchdown, Glos. GL3 2PU, UK Phone/Fax: +44 1452 714029 WWW home page: http://www.u-net.com/~sgml/
Received on Tuesday, 24 September 1996 04:24:21 UTC